First Hit: I went from engage, to disappointment and disbelief, and finally to satisfied.
This film generated a range of feelings within me; from great story with belief and possibility all the way to disbelief while bordering on “give me a break”. In the end it does redeem itself.
The story begins with Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) packing up and leaving her apartment and life with Ben (voice of Bradley Cooper). Driving to an unknown location she gets into a car accident.
She wakes up chained to a bed with Howard (John Goodman) as her captor. He tells her that there has been an apocalypse in the world outside and he’s saved her by bringing her into his underground bunker.
Howard introduces her to Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) who, as she finds out, has chosen to be in the bunker. She hears cars and other noises above her, so she tries to escape only to find someone suffering outside the bunker.
At this point there are a lot of stories floating around in my head about where this film is heading. Then about 15 - 20 minutes before the end, I went into disbelief and disappointment about where the story has taken us, but at the end, I realized that I liked and believed the point of the story and how we got there.
Winstead is very strong as the everyday person finding her strength and being willing to move past her previous fears. Goodman is equally strong as someone who is definitely on his own agenda and belief system which may be true and skewed view. Gallagher Jr. was very good as the other person in the bunker. Josh Campbell and Matthew Stuecken wrote this story that almost fell off the rails. Dan Trachtenberg did a great job creating an intense environment in a closed space. The set was really good.
Overall: This film was on the edge of falling over a cliff, but, in the end, stays upright.